Petrelli Past
by lolinghappily2
Summary: Introduction- Peter and Nathan Petrelli, two brothers, unlike in ambitions, alike in friendship. But when some secrets are unturned from their past which side will they take? Please review! Would really appreciate it!
1. Chapter 1

Peter stared up at the grand box; his eyes were mesmerized, only focused on this one thing. He wished it could be him standing up there in half an hour, him collecting the diploma, him receiving all the praise from chest bursting proud parents. But that just wasn't him. He wished with all his heart he could do the right thing by his parents, he wished he could go to law school and become a lawyer like his big brother. But that just wasn't him. He wanted to do more with his life, he wanted to help people and Nathan so played the part of lawyer better than he did, he could take the praise, no more than that, he wanted it.

But still from taking all this into consideration Peter didn't feel any resentment towards his older brother, he couldn't. He and Nathan had always been close and Peter had always relied on him for everything and Nathan had never disappointed him.

There were two things everyone was absolutely certain about the Petrelli family. One they were enormously rich, that was definitely true. And secondly they were incredibly ambitious. The head of the family, addressed as Mr. Petrelli by his employees and Arthur by his friends was a lawyer, head of one of the richest firms in the entire USA. Some folks said this amount of power and money had gone straight to his head, most agreed saying that no doubt at the rate they were rising, one of the Petrelli's was bound to end up in the Whitehouse. Mrs Petrelli was a nice enough women, at least to whose who didn't know her to well. She was a typical business man's wife, living off his money, wearing many expensive shoes and clothes, attending all the parties, had her fake laugh absolutely perfected. Such a women nobody ever expected to become a mother, but as in all these families Mr Petrelli expected an heir to carry on the family name and empire he had built up. So along came Nathan, the model son, perfect to his parents in every way. He was a very bright kid, top of his class, valedictorian in high school, responsible, ready to take on his father's business when the time arrived. The phrase "like father, like son", couldn't have been a more had a more perfect example than these two. It seemed that whatever Arthur did or had done Nathan would promptly follow in, either matching his father in brilliance or exceeding him without a second thought.

Then came Peter. From the outside the Petrelli's had seemed the ideal upper class family, the head, the wife and the heir. So when a new baby came along it shocked everyone. However the baby was there and it was a Petrelli, but there couldn't have been two more different brothers.


	2. Chapter 2

The two brothers were brought up in similar circumstances; both of them were highly privileged. Though somewhere something had struck a difference between them, perhaps it was the fact Nathan was five years older than Peter, five years more experienced to the cruel harshness of the world or perhaps, (as his mother put it), Peter constantly spent his life "staring out of rose tinted glasses". Either way whenever folks talked about the Petrelli boys, the topic of conversation always turned to Nathan, the highly ambitious oldest, whilst Peter would fade away into forgetfulness unless someone casually mentioned his name.

Peter POV

There's not much I remember about being ten, that phase of my life seemed to pass in a hazy dream of happiness. But there is one particular memory which sticks in my brain.

It was raining that day. I remember that. Nathan was at his football club, due home any minute. It was one of the few times I remember father to have been in the house, without Nathan having being there. Me and dad never got on to well, it wasn't that I didn't _want_ to, quite the opposite actually. He always seemed to feel a coldness towards me, I would walk into a room and he would leave. He was never the affectionate father, he never read to me, played with me or addressed me with more than three sentences, we were as good as strangers except I shared a great proportion of his facial features. For my part I never desired a deeper bond with this man than what he gave me and he satisfied my feelings with returning no gesture of friendliness.

I had been sitting on the stairs, pretending I was hiding from the hideous ogre who lived in the cupboard beneath the stairs, when I had heard raised voices coming from one of our numerous living rooms. I hadn't meant to overhear the conversation, but it had leaked under the doorway to my waiting ears.

"What are you doing?!" Dad yelled.

"I'm going to keep it!" I heard my mum reply, her voice hushed and I detected a hint of fear which was unusual for my mother.

"Are you MAD?!" Dad cried.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from mum.

"You cannot keep…it." Dad muttered, so I only just caught the last words.

"I am," my mum replied, resolved.

"You are insulting me!" Dad shouted, raising his voice again.

"I'm sorry dear, but you know what Mr Mendez said about this…" Her tones drew so quiet and light that they drew out of my hearing range.

"Hey Pete!" Nathan's sudden cry made me jump and I leapt off the stairs, landing face down.

"Whoa!" Nathan pulled me to my feet and I turned to glance back at the closed door which promptly swung open to reveal dad framed in the doorway. He passed me over with his normal disregarding gaze and addressed Nathan.

"Hello son, I have some good news for you."

Nathan assured that I was comfortably back on my feet, looked cautiously at dad, "what news?" He asked.

"Have you told him?" Mom appeared suddenly next to dad.

Dad cleared his throat, "Nathan, you have been accepted into Hilton."

"What!" Nathan exclaimed, "Seriously?"

"Oh yes we are quite serious my dear," mum replied, pulling Nathan into a hug, "well done!"

"Yes very well done," dad agreed, stepping over me and patting Nathan on the back, "I knew you could do it, had no doubt about it, I went to that high school and it is brilliant, best education you will ever get, your on your way to the high business son."

"Thanks dad," Nathan still looked in shock, "I just, I just can't believe it."

"We're going to celebrate," dad announced, "already booked a table at Kyle's."

"Am I coming dad?" I asked timidly.

"No, Peter," mum answered, "you're to little, stay here with nanny, we won't be back late." She bent down and gave me a swift kiss on the head before following dad and Nathan outside.


End file.
